Tank Crash

[Christine Rawlings]

Recent questions living in my head and somewhat researched. But thought I would come on here too….What do people mean by “tank crash”? I have a somewhat established tank of a year and a half and one small one that is like 3 months old. What would I look out for? What are the signs that I need to add biodigest to my tanks?

 

[Cali Reef Life]

You go on vacation and the return pumps turns off for 1.5 day before your house sitter knows about it. Then the dose pump dumps a bunch of dosing into the display and raises temp from low 70s to high 70s in a day. Then your heater breaks a couple months later and stays on the weak coral gets temp at 85. Now the die off causes nitrates to rise and for the next 6 months you deal with algae and die off. happened to me but I am back on it. Lost half my corals but its been a year ago now feeling good about buying higher ends.

 

[Lavey29]

There is a whole variety of things that can cause a tank to crash. Equipment failure, over stocking exceeded your filtration capabilities, general negligence in upkeep, bad salt water, etc... etc... this is why tanks need to checked regularly.

 

[WalkerLovesTheOcean]

A "tank crash" is an event that causes mass die off. Typically, it's caused by tank neglect. It could also be caused by immediate reactions (for example, you measure salinity and read that it is 1.020. You immediately bump the salinity to 1.026, but shortly after, you realize your refractometer was uncalibrated, and now your salinity is at 1.031). To avoid tank crashes, closely monitor your tank. Never neglect it. Look for signs of failing equipment. Don't make immediate decisions. Take a second, and think about it. Make sure it's the right decision (example above).

 

[Dread Pirate Dave]

Basically an event or string of events that force you to reboot and start again. :)

 

[Christine Rawlings]

You go on vacation and the return pumps turns off for 1.5 day before your house sitter knows about it. Then the dose pump dumps a bunch of dosing into the display and raises temp from low 70s to high 70s in a day. Then your heater breaks a couple months later and stays on the weak coral gets temp at 85. Now the die off causes nitrates to rise and for the next 6 months you deal with algae and die off. happened to me but I am back on it. Lost half my corals but its been a year ago now feeling good about buying higher ends.

Makes sense and that will do it! Wowzers! I am still manually dosing because I fear that happening to me! Last time I went on vacation I left my neice in charge and only came home to low water levels and everything survived. I did lose some hammers (except my most expensive one shockingly) and all I could think of was the aptasia eating file fish I got they didn’t even eat the aptasia (shaking my head) ended up using AptasiaX but the file fish recently died (thinking natural causes) so I am getting there to feeling good about trying some hammers and frog spawn again! So far I have not had a complete crash and hope I never do!

 

[Christine Rawlings]

Basically an event or string of events that force you to reboot and start again. :)

I started reading another thread on here and now I see exactly what you are saying! Thank you

 

[Christine Rawlings]

A "tank crash" is an event that causes mass die off. Typically, it's caused by tank neglect. It could also be caused by immediate reactions (for example, you measure salinity and read that it is 1.020. You immediately bump the salinity to 1.026, but shortly after, you realize your refractometer was uncalibrated, and now your salinity is at 1.031). To avoid tank crashes, closely monitor your tank. Never neglect it. Look for signs of failing equipment. Don't make immediate decisions. Take a second, and think about it. Make sure it's the right decision (example above).

Thank you for the insight! So recently I couldn’t figure out my algae problem and lost some hammers and my parameters were almost perfect. I was told by local LFS that I likely changed my water too much and it was like my tank was going through a “mini cycle”. I ended up following his advice and buying Biodigest to add to my tank. Is that common or how do I know when I need to add that to my tanks?

 

[Christine Rawlings]

There is a whole variety of things that can cause a tank to crash. Equipment failure, over stocking exceeded your filtration capabilities, general negligence in upkeep, bad salt water, etc... etc... this is why tanks need to checked regularly.

Thank you!

 

[WalkerLovesTheOcean]

Thank you for the insight! So recently I couldn’t figure out my algae problem and lost some hammers and my parameters were almost perfect. I was told by local LFS that I likely changed my water too much and it was like my tank was going through a “mini cycle”. I ended up following his advice and buying Biodigest to add to my tank. Is that common or how do I know when I need to add that to my tanks?

What was the algae and what were your nitrate and phosphate levels?

 

[PharmrJohn]

And sometimes tanks crash for no discernable reason. Mine went that way 12 years back. I have no doubt I'm at fault, somehow. Somewhere along the line I made a bad decision and paid for it. But to this day, i can't figure out why it happened.

 

[Christine Rawlings]

What was the algae and what were your nitrate and phosphate levels?

Diatoms, brown hair algae I believe. My nitrates were at 5.9 and phosphate at .14

 

[Christine Rawlings]

And sometimes tanks crash for no discernable reason. Mine went that way 12 years back. I have no doubt I'm at fault, somehow. Somewhere along the line I made a bad decision and paid for it. But to this day, i can't figure out why it happened.

The unknown is a tough part of this hobby!

 

[Lavey29]

And sometimes tanks crash for no discernable reason. Mine went that way 12 years back. I have no doubt I'm at fault, somehow. Somewhere along the line I made a bad decision and paid for it. But to this day, i can't figure out why it happened.

Sometimes a bad bacteria may get in the water, oils from a candle, I actually think not knowing what went wrong is worse then actually knowing where you made the mistake and its possible you made no mistake at all too.

 

[Christine Rawlings]

Diatoms, brown hair algae I believe. My nitrates were at 5.9 and phosphate at .14

I should mention that is what he tested it at. Two days later I tested (the bacteria was already dosed and small water change) and my nitrates were at 11.2 and my phosphate at .03. That was the last time I tested 2 weeks ago. I’m going to test again tomorrow. I’ve really slowed down on making quick decisions and too many changes at once.

 

[Christine Rawlings]

Sometimes a bad bacteria may get in the water, oils from a candle, I actually think not knowing what went wrong is worse then actually knowing where you made the mistake and its possible you made no mistake at all too.

I agree!

 

[Lavey29]

I should mention that is what he tested it at. Two days later I tested (the bacteria was already dosed and small water change) and my nitrates were at 11.2 and my phosphate at .03. That was the last time I tested 2 weeks ago. I’m going to test again tomorrow. I’ve really slowed down on making quick decisions and too many changes at once.

You want that phosphate up a little more because with the error range on test kits .03 may actually be 0.

 

[Christine Rawlings]

You want that phosphate up a little more because with the error range on test kits .03 may actually be 0.

Ok thank you! It’s possible because I’ve been running GFO too.

 

[Cali Reef Life]

Makes sense and that will do it! Wowzers! I am still manually dosing because I fear that happening to me! Last time I went on vacation I left my neice in charge and only came home to low water levels and everything survived. I did lose some hammers (except my most expensive one shockingly) and all I could think of was the aptasia eating file fish I got they didn’t even eat the aptasia (shaking my head) ended up using AptasiaX but the file fish recently died (thinking natural causes) so I am getting there to feeling good about trying some hammers and frog spawn again! So far I have not had a complete crash and hope I never do!

I lost 16 heads of hammers... The dose pump wasn't the issue it was the return pump. Now I have ink bird and dose pump is on an app. I didn't buy a dose pump Until I couldn't keep up from manually takes about a year. Best thing to get is ink bird it kills the heater if it gets stuck and messages me the temperature on lows or highs. 50 bucks not even a lot.

 

[Lavey29]

Ok thank you! It’s possible because I’ve been running GFO too.

Yep that will do it. You want .1 phosphate and 10 to 20 nitrates.